Adrian Thomas found not guilty in son’s death - UPDATE

Editor’s Note: A Rensselaer County Court jury has found Adrian Thomas not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his four-month-old son. Check back for updates on this ruling.

TROY >> Jurors heard closing statements and began deliberations Wednesday in the retrial for Adrian Thomas, charged with second-degree murder for the death of his four-month-old son.

“143 days,” said Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney Christa Book as she began her summation. “Far too short of a life.”

Prosecutors say the reason Matthew Thomas didn’t live to see his first birthday or snowfall was because his father bounced him on a bed until he fell on the ground, causing the head trauma which ultimately killed him.

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The defense contends the child died of sepsis, a full-body bacterial infection.

Both prosecution and the defense brought in doctors, some who worked directly on the baby’s case, others from out of town. However, it was the absence of two doctors defense attorney Steve Coffey asked the jury to take note of.

“Where’s Edge? Dr. Edge, are you here?” Coffey said loudly, looking around the courtroom.

Edge treated the baby when he arrived at the hospital. Coffey also asked where Dr. Hoover, a neuroradiologist

“Either they talked to Edge and they didn’t like what he was going to say, or maybe they forgot about him,” said Coffey. “There’s the white elephant that’s not in the room.”

Christa Book made two objections, saying Coffey’s words were “ridiculous,” but Judge Andrew Ceresia overruled.

“We could have spent a lot longer calling every doctor, but we’re not hiding anything from you,” said Book, noting Hoover’s report was in evidence and available to jurors. “Everything is in here, you can read it for yourself.”

Book said it was Dr. Michael Sikarica, the county’s medical examiner who performed the autopsy, who told the most important part of Matthew’s story.

“He told you this was consistent with blunt force trauma, with inflicted blunt force trauma,” she said. “That’s what caused his death.”

She said the prosecution’s own witness, Dr. Carole Jenny, an expert who was paid to examine records and testify, did not ignore the possibility of sepsis when she gave her opinion: that the child died from head trauma.

“Unlike Dr. Klein, who got on that stand, who said, ‘He died of sepsis, but I can’t make any opinion, I can’t talk about head trauma.’”

Coffey also questioned the credibility of William Terry, who said Thomas confessed his guilt to him while the two were in prison together. Terry has three felony convictions and 14 misdemeanors.

Although the DA’s office first indicated that Terry would not receive any benefits from testifying, it came out that the DA’s office would place a phone call for him during his testimony.

“Would he risk being a snitch for a phone call?” said Book.

Coffey closed with listing terms used in the language of the charge in this case — “wicked, evil, inhuman, brutal, despicable, wanton” — and reminded jurors that to find Thomas guilty, the evidence had to be convincing “beyond reasonable doubt.”

Book said from their birth, Thomas was indifferent to Matthew and his identical twin, who were born prematurely and in the hospital for nearly a month.

“What parent doesn’t go visit their premature sons in the hospital?” said Book. “What person has enough children that they can’t even be bothered to go meet their sons? Who doesn’t go meet their children?”